Apparatus for and method of paraffining material



Feb. 23, 1932.

fw. A. M. Hor-'FMElsTx-:R

APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF PARAFFINING MATERIAL Filed Feb. 8. 1929 inthe manufacture of flowers,

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to my invention loose leaves,

Patented Feb. 2.3, 1932 iiNiTrn STATES PATENT OFFICE WILHELM .ARNO MAX EOFFMEISTER, 0F NEUSTADT, GER-MANY l APPARATUS FOR .AND METHOD OF PARAFFINING MATERIAL Application nled February 8, i929, Serial No. 338,387, and in Germany June 6, 1928.

llhe present invention relates to improvements in the apparatus for and method of paraning material.

.de is well lrnown artilicial leaves employed after they have been stamped or cut out and furnished with a stem, are linished by applying a coating The parahning in the' of paraiiin thereto. lrnown processes is accomplished by tying together the ends of the stems of a number of leaves, thendipping the leaf bunches so formed into a liquid paramn bath and then transferring the dipped bunches for mechan ical 'treatment to an apparatus where by' lllnieans of centrifugal force, the excess par,-l

aliin is removed from said bunches. linmediately thereafter the bunches of the thus treated leaves must be rapidly separated in order to prevent individual leaves from sticking together.- l great part of this process has been hitherto accomplished by manual means.

lhis awkward process is simplied by the W present invention and manual operations are eliminated to a marked degree. According chosen at ran-- dem from a batch to be treated, are passed to a conveyor which hrst conveys the said leaves through a paran bath, thence means such as press rollers where the encess paramn accumulated by said leaves is removed and thence to an automatic leaf separator, i

With my new methodit is possible to place leaves, chosen at random on a conveyor, it being immaterial whether or not' several leaves provided however that care is taken that the conveyor carries all the leaves thereon through the paramn bath and that nonefis allowed to" merely 'Heat on the surface ofv .parailin removing device comprising for inhappen to lie one on top of the other,

bands, said Hight-s being adapted to pass through a paralin bath during a portion of their path of travel. The leaves may then be further conveyed by the said ights to a stance two press rollers, yieldingly held together under pressure, so that paraiiined leaves passing between said rollers will have excess paraiiin expressed therefrom.

A'lhe separating device associated directly with said expressing device may for example be driven by compressed air which will whirl the leaves against rebounding surfaces. .Said separation device may also be a rapidly moving or rotating beater onto which the leaves are transferred.

Thus, with my new process, collecting, straightening out, tying inbundles, and subsequently separating and untying can be entirely eliminated and manual labor entirelym replaced by mechanical labor whereby the leaves picked at random from a batch are passed to the conveyor. Even the passing or feeding of the leaves to the conveyor may be accomplished by mechanical means, if desired lll/ly invention will be more fully understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which similar reference characters denote corresponding parts and in which Fig. l is a diagrammatic vertical section of one form of my device and Figs. la and 2a are and 2 respectively.

Fig. 2 is a similar View of a'secondv form.

According to Fig'. l the leaves A are transferred to a slanting chute l and thence to a conveyor consisting of an endless band 2 of pervious or porous material and which is guided over guide rollers 3, 4, and 5 that revolve in the direction of the arrows X shown .in the figure. The flight 2 of this conveyor is in range of the lower 'section of a drum Bwhich rotates inthe direction of the arrow Y, and contacts with a greater part of the surface of said drum, care being taken that only a moderate pressure is exerted by said flight against the drum surface, so as to permit the passage of leaves between said Hight and 100 plan views of Figs. l

drum surface even when several are piled tively carried along due to the tion of the arrows Z,

emerge from between Fig. Q there is a one on top of the other. j

The drum 6 which is driven by suitable means is provided with a layer of soft material, such as felt, and' dips in' the parain bath contained in a receptacle 8, so that a part of the flight 2 is also submerged in thc paraiiin bath.

' does not move longltudinally but is provide The leaves A fed through the chute 1 are caught by the conveyor and carried alongby the latter to the drum 6 and between the flight 2 and the felt layer 7 of the said drum 6. The endless band is adapted to be driven with the surface speed of the drum 6 by suitable means, not shown, the leaves being posifrictional engagement of said leaves betweensaid drum surface 7 and said night surface 2.

The guide roller 5 is adapted to function as a press roller and is adjustably mounted outside of the parain bath in such manner that it can be made to bear against the drum 6 with any desired pressure. The means for so mounting said roller may be any of the well known type, such as an adjustable bearing for the shaft of said roller, or the like. -The'paraiiined leaves moving along the ight 2 pass between said guide roller 5 and drum 6 and due to the pressure excess paraffin is expressed therefrom. The leaves emerging from the roller 5 are then transferred to a leaf separating device which may comprise a plurality of surface beaters 10 arranged star like on a shaft 9, capable of comparatively rapid rotation and driven by any suit-- able means, not shown, for instance by being belted in suitable speed ratio to the drive of the drum 6. The beaters are mounted so as to be adjacent the roller 5 whereby as leaves 5 the mechanical action of said beaters causes any leaves that tend to stick together to separate and be whirled into the air. The leaves are then subjected to a cooling air current fed from a suitable source 14, in direcin order that they drop into a collectingreceptacle 15 in a suiiiciently cooled condition and be thereby prevente from sticking together.

According to the modification shown 1n chute 1 as before for transferring leaves A fed therethrough to a guide the drum 6 and roller d leaves emerge surface 11 which consists of a thin sheet ofg metal or the like curved-to adapt itself concentrically to the lower surface of the drum 6. A narrow space is provided between said surface 11 and the drum surface for the passage therethrou h of the leaves.

As beforethe drum 6 is provided with an absorbent covering or layer of felt 7 or the ylike and dips into the parain contents of conwhich in its opof roller 5 and tainer 8. The press roller -5 eration is identical with that has the same adjustable features as modication is provided with a felt covering means for separating in this 52. The beating surfaces 10 on .shaft 9 rotating in the samemanner as before are also present in this device.

The guide surface 11 inthis modification at one end thereof with suitable tension adjustment'means 13 carrying bolts 13 slidably adjustable in slots 82 provided in an upwardly projecting slanting flange 8 of the container 8.

'Ihe receptacle 8 for the'paraiin is of such dimensions that the drum 6 does not reach to the side walls thereof, so that the paraiiin can readily drop into the space between the surface 7 and guide surface 11.

M invention may be modified without departing from the spirit thereof and I do not wish to be limited by the details shown and described.

What I claim is:

1. In a process of paraffining artificial leaves, the steps of continuously feeding leaves, chosen at random, along a path leading through a paraiin bath and outwardly from said bath, then causing excess paraiiin accumulated thereonto said leaves while passing out from said bath and subsequently causing said leaves to be subjected to beating action before said Hpltrafin has cooled whereby said para v ed leaves become separated from one another.

2. In a process of paraiining artificial leaves, the steps of continuously feeding leaves, chosen at random, along a path leading through a paraiin bath, and outwardly from said bath, then causing excess parain accumulated thereon said .,leaves, then subjecting said parain'ed leaves to beating action whereby they become separated, and then cooling said leaves.

3. A device for preserving artificial leaves comprising in combination, a receptacle for a liquid paraffin bath, means for continuously feeding leaves through and out of said liquid, means close to the exit point from the liquid bath for expressing from said leaves excess liquid accumulated thereon as said from said bath and means for immediately separating said leaves, saidA means for separatlng the parati-ined leaves including movable beating means.

4. A device for preserving artificial leaves comprising in combination, a receptacle for a. liquid paraffin bath, means for continuously feeding leaves through and out of said liquid, means close to the exit point from the be expressed from to be expressed froml liquid bath for expressing from said leaves excess liquid accumulated thereon as said leaves emerge from said immediately separating said leaves, said cluding a rapidly revolving member formed with a plurality of beaters.

5. A device for paraining artificial leaves comprising in combination, a recepbath and means for the parailined leaves 1ntacle for a liquid parain bath, a rotatable drum in said receptacle adapted to be parzlf submerged in the contents thereof, an en less band adapted to cooperate with said drum and extend concentrically over a con siderable segment of the circumference of said drum, rollers for so mountin said band, one of said rollers being mounte above the liquid level of said receptacle and adjacent the point of emergence of said leaves from said bath, said last named roller being so 1ooated relative to said drum as to act therewith by pressure to express excess arafiin from. the said leaves, and a rotatable ater mounted adjacent said last named rollerxand adapted to separate said leaves from each other as they emerge from the expressin treatment and before the paralin has coole 6. A device as per claim 5, in which means for receiving said separated leaves and means for cooling said separatedA leaves before they reachsaid receiving means are provided.

In testimony whereof I aifix m signature.

WILHELM ARNO MAX ll FHIElSTER. 

